Titanic: The Final Countdown
by FanWriter3
Summary: During the 1986 expedition to the wreck, Dr. Robert Ballard and his research ship get hurled back in time to April 14, 1912. As the Titanic sinks in the distance, Ballard must make the crucial desicion of weather or not to change history. Rewritten
1. Everything in place

_**DISCLAIMER: I would just like to inform everyone that I have no connection with Robert Ballard orthe Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. They own all the exploration gear mentioned here. I however, own the story and the characters of James Edwards and Jack Donovan.**_

* * *

Excitement was raging through the men's minds at the Woodshole Oceanographic institute. Another special expedition was being planned. For the next few weeks, the research vessel Atlantis II would be on location at the site of the greatest ship in the world, the RMS Titanic. 

The year before, Oceanographer Robert Ballard had discovered the wreck towards the end of a mission for the U.S Navy to locate the submarine U.S.S. Thresher. When the wreck was found and surveyed, the navy allowed him to use the remaining time to look for the Titanic. And he had been lucky enough to discover her with only a few days left.

Now, Ballard was again leading an expedition, only this time, he would be taking the research submarine Alvin with him, in order to finally see the old liner up close for the first time.

In his office, the excited Ballard sat as his desk, gathering a few things up for the trip. He had already loaded most of his cloths and other possessions aboard the ship last night, so he was just getting a few books and what not, for the trip out to the dive site. He had a few good selections; Walter Lord's _A Night to Remember_, Clive Cussler's _Raise the Titanic_, and a few other smaller pieces of literature that he enjoyed.

He loaded them into a small bag as he closed up the drawers on his desk and got up and walked toward the door. Taking one last look around, making sure nothing was forgotten, he shut the lights and walked out the door.

Outside, he walked up to the car that was waiting to take him down to the dock where the research ship was tied. In the drivers seat was his friend, James Edwards. Ballard and him had gone way back to their childhood. They had both went into the Navy together at a younger age, Ballard staying with it longer while James left early to come to Woodshole.

When Ballard joined the group a few years earlier, it was James that had helped him through the ranks to chief scientist. (Even though Ballard had already secured a PhD.) Since then the two of them were on several expeditions together, including the original Titanic mission the year before. So both men were actually pretty equally excited about going back.

Ballard threw his bags into the trunk, and then hopped into the passenger seat. "Let's go," he said, "This is my trip and I don't want to be late."

James glanced at his friend. "You are aware we have over an hour, right?"

"Never hurts to be prepared."

James shrugged, then put the car into drive and headed down the path toward the dock, which was visible in the distance.

A little while later, the car pulled up on the dock next to the research vessel. James and Ballard got out, Ballard walking to the trunk to get his stuff.

"I'm going aboard," James said. "I loaded all my other crap on board last night."

"I'll be right behind you, man," Ballard said as he reached for his things.

As James ran up the gangplank, he was met by the ship's captain, standing in the doorway to the ship. He glanced down at his watch.

"About time. You'd thing for the leaders of this expedition, you could show up a little earlier."

James sighed. "Look, do I need to tell you to? We got an hour before we even start up the engines. Add the time it takes to clear away everything and get the ship clear of the dock. You need to lay off."

The captain looked a little surprised, but he kept it concealed. He was a man who didn't like it when people got the better of him.

"Look, just get aboard and we'll talk later. Where's your friend?"

"Getting the rest of his things. And so you know, he's the leader here. It might be your ship, but it's his expedition."

The captain just glared at him. Then, he put on a slight smile and chuckled as he walked inside. James followed him, shaking his head.

As Ballard finished getting the rest of his stuff, he closed the trunk and began to make his way toward the gangplank, when he suddenly noticed a small black limo pull up to the dock beside James' car. As he watched, two big men got out of the front seats, probably body guards judging from their size. They walked over to the edge of the walk way, and Ballard walked back down to meat them.

"Are you Bob Ballard?" one of the big guys asked.

"Yes I am. What exactly do you want?"

The man smiled. "I'm sorry. See, we work for Mister Jack Donovan."

Ballard Raised an eyebrow. "The co founder of the institute?"

The big guy nodded. Ballard looked past the men toward the limo. He strained his eyes to make out the outline of an old man sitting in the back seat, barely visible through the heavily tinted windows. "Is that him in the car?"

"Yes sir. He requested that we bring him here to see the expedition off."

Ballard glanced back up at the body guard. "Well, may I introduce myself then?"

"that won't really be necessary. As I said, he's just here to see you off. Plus, at his age, he's pretty excitable and doesn't like to be outside much."

"I see…"

Ballard scratched his head. That was odd. He heard that Mister Donovan was strange, but he didn't realize it was that bad.

"Well, thank him for me," he said, putting on a weak smile. The body guards nodded, and both turned back to the limo.

Ballard stared as they walked back to the car. After a minute, he shook his head and walked back up the gangplank toward the research ship.

In the limo, Mister Donovan stared out the window at the expedition leader. His face was hidden by the darkness inside the car, but it was obvious that he was very old, his hair snow white, his skin very wrinkled.

As he looked, he glanced up at the bridge wing of the ship, and just barely saw that captain and James standing on the bridge wing, talking. He slowly nodded. "Everything is in place," he said quietly.


	2. Strange Phenomena

_Okay, this chapter is totaly new. I broke it off from a section of the original chapter one that some old readers may remeber. I decided to expand that half of it and make it into it's own chapter. All this is part of my revamp of the story that I hope you all enjoy. _

_As you will soon notice, every chapter will be totaly re-written, even a few new ones added,with more exciting scenes, more dialogue, and more background into certain things I didn't cover in the original chapters. And it starts here. Enjoy, and be sure to review about what you think of the improvements as they come along._

* * *

About three days later, the Atlantis II was steaming through the rough North Atlantic swells, getting closer to the location where the greatest ship ever lay sunk two miles beneath the surface. 

In his cabin, Ballard sat on his bed, reading _A Night to Remember_. He was about halfway through it already, not really being able to put it down. Though he had read it hundreds of times before, the way the Titanic's story was captured within it's pages was captivating. It wasn't like a novel. It was a factual story. That's what made it interesting to him. It was al true, no stupid fictional plots or romances to ruin it.

As he sat there reading, he glanced out his port hole at the ocean passing by. It was a clear day, and by late tomorrow they would be over the dive site. It was exciting, yet also saddening. Deep down he knew that these waters had also claimed the lives of 1,500 men, women, and children. As he dwell don that thought, he began thinking of what he would have done if he ever had the chance to intervene.

A buzzer snapped him out of his trance. It was the intercom system. He sighed, put his book on his pocket, and walked over to the wall where the unit was. He pressed the button and spoke into the speaker.

"Ballard here, what is it?"

The voice of a crewmember sounded back.

"Sir, captain requests that you join him on the bridge at once."

"Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure. But according to him, there is a situation arising that he wants both you and Mr. Edwards to see."

"Right, I'm on my way."

Ballard released the button and walked over to his wardrobe compartment. He grabbed a navy blue sweater and baseball cap and made his way out the door, putting them on as he walked down the hall.

He reached the promenade deck and ran into James, whose cabin was farther astern. Together they both started walking up the ladders to the various decks that led to the bridge.

"I wonder what was so important that he had to wake me up from my nap," James said with a yawn.

"You know him. If he senses something's off, he gets everyone's attention."

Yeah, but look around. It's a clear day. I don't see what could be 'off' about these conditions."

Ballard shrugged. "He's a seasoned captain. Guys like that can sense things in the air that no one else can. I served with a lot of them in the navy. It's like a sixth sense. Trust me, he probably has a good reason."

The two friends continued to walk. Another thought suddenly jumped into Ballard's head, one that was actually bothering him for most of the trip. He changed the topic.

"You know what is weird though? The day we left, Jack Donovan showed up on the docks."

James looked up at his friend, surprised. "The co founder of the institute?"

"Yeah, that's him. It was strange, I tell you. One minute I'm going to board the ship, the next minute this limo pulls up and two big guys come out saying that Donovan wants to 'see us off.'"

"You get a good look at him?"

"No, he stayed in the limo. The windows were so damn tinted that all you could see was his outline."

James raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a mysterious dude."

"Yeah. I don't know what his deal was. I mean, why would one of the most important figures in the institute just randomly show up to watch us leave?"

"I'm sure he has his reasons. I mean, I heard Jack Donovan had expressed quite a lot of interest in the institute when it was founded. If it wasn't for him, Woodshole wouldn't exist the way it does."

Ballard shook his head. "Still doesn't explain why he came to the docks."

Well, this is a special expedition. Maybe just wanted to make sure we were properly prepared."

Ballard thought about it and nodded. "Guess that makes sense. It's just been bothering me since we left, you know?"

They continued up until the came to the stairway up to the port bridge wing. The climbed up and were almost immediately met with the captain, walking out with his binoculars.

"Well, god of you to show up," he said with an impatient expression.

"Just cut to the chase," James said.

"Very well. Come inside."

The captain led them inside the bridge. There were several officers on duty a the various stations. The captain led them over the sonar station, where a man was monitoring a large, blurry blip on the radar.

"How's it looking?" the captain asked.

The officer looked up from his set. "It's nothing like I've ever seen, sir. It's very odd. One minute it shows up, but in the next sweep, it's gone."

"That is odd," Ballard observed. "Maybe it's a glitch."

The officer shook his head. "No sir. This is a brand new system, just installed a week ago. Nothing could've happened to it to make it behave like this."

"Well, maybe you're just picking up a large cloud formation," James said. Again, the officer shook his head.

"A cloud formation doesn't increase that much in size each time it appears."

The captain turned to James and Ballard.

"I'm not sure what it is, but I figured I'd inform you two since you're the expedition leaders."

Ballard glanced from the radar unit to the captain.

"Well, I don't think it looks like anything we should worry about right now. Besides, we're almost to the dive site. I say we continue on…"

Suddenly, another officer out on the bridge wing yelled in.

"Sir, directly off our bow. I've never seen anything like it!"

The captain and the two expedition leaders turned to look out the forward bridge windows. The captain raised his binoculars to see whatever was happening. Ballard and James just stared, trying to make it out. It looked like a giant storm cloud, and it was rapidly expanding, and swirling violently.

The captain lowered the binoculars and walked over the rear door of the bride, where the weather room was. The officer there didn't have a chance to respond before the questions came down on him.

"I thought you said that the forecast was clear skies for most of the trip!"

The officer calmly leaned over and picked up a few newly printed satellite photo's, as well as files containing the weather reports for the trip. He handed them over, the captain going through the files first.

"Sir as far as I know, the weather was clear. All the reports in that folder confirm it. But the photos on the other hand…"

He motioned for the captain to pull out the photos.

"Sir, those were printed no more then five minutes ago, and we've been monitoring this phenomena for the last half hour."

He motioned at a large hurricane looking formation bearing down on the ship. It looked menacing, but when he flipped to the next photo, it was perfectly clear.

"I've never seen anything like it, sir. One photo, it's there, the next, it's clear. It's like something out of the Bermuda triangle."

The captain slowly looked up and stared at his officer.

"The radar is picking up the exact same thing. But we've only been monitoring it in the past ten minutes. You say this started half an hour ago?"

The officer nodded.

"What the hell's going on?"

Ballard and James waited outside. They continued to stare at the growing vortex. It was spinning and moving toward the ship at a frightening pace.

"What do you think it is?" James asked his friend.

"I don't now. But I don't like the look of it at all."

While Ballard stared, James turned to the helmsmen. The two got into a discussion about turning the ship on a different course. But Ballard couldn't look away from the phenomena before him. It seemed to be glowing with some unearthly light, like the Northern Lights, and it was growing rapidly.

Just as James was about to push the helmsmen aside out of annoyance, Ballard's eyes widened with shock. He turned and lunged toward his friend.

"Get down!"

As James was dragged down, taking the helmsman along with him, a shaft of lightening exploded through the bridge window, right into the radar panel behind them. The radar operator was blown from his seat onto the floor. He tried to get back up to the station, but was forced back as sparks and electrical current surged from the panel, and quickly started spreading to the other devices. But shockingly, nothing, not even the window, was damaged.

As the rest of the crew struggled to get back in order, the captain came rushing out.

"What the hell was that?"

Ballard and James got to their feet.

"It was that damn storm, that's what it was!"

The captain turned and looked out the window. The sky above the ship had turned pitch black. The eerie glow swirled violently at the center of the vortex, which the ship was rapidly approaching.

Without giving it a second thought, the captain rushed over to a panel and activated the alarm.

As the sirens blared, he rushed over to the intercom and called the engine room.

"Engine room! This is the bridge. I want full astern right now. This isn't a drill, repeat, this is no drill. Full power astern!"

The captain turned and stared ahead at the vortex, horrified. James and Ballard were to stunned to move. Everyone on the bridge braced themselves for the worst, not knowing what would happen to them.


	3. Back in Time

The vortex engulfed the ship. Lightning bolts struck the radar antenna, sending surges of electricity down through the wires into the electrical equipment on the bridge. Crewmembers either ran or were blown back from their stations as the pulses shorted everything out.

Suddenly, things went black. Pitch black. No one could see anything except when the lightening flashed outside around the ship.

A high pitch shriek roared through the ship. Every crewmember inside heard it, and dropped to their knees, holding their ears in agony. It was torture. Things seemed as though they were spinning, like the ship was going to be ripped apart.

As Ballard struggled to look around in the chaos, a flash of lightening came again, and for a split second, everything, the ship, the crew, they all disappeared. And for that instance, he saw nothing but pure blackness and a thousand images flashed before his eyes. In a final flash, his vision was filled with a lasting image of the RMS Titanic looming before him, sailing directly at him.

Then suddenly, just as he felt he was going to be run down, he found himself back on the bridge of the Atlantis II. The lights slowly flickered back to life. The high pitched shrieking died away, replaced by the sound of the alarm ringing. The electronic systems slowly reactivated, reinitializing themselves.

Ballard, James, the captain, as well as the rest of the crew slowly got to their feet, carefully removing their hands from their ears. They were all stunned by what they had just been through. The first one to speak was the James.

"Wha…What the hell was that?"

As everyone slowly regained their composure, the captain turned to him.

"That…was one of the strangest electrical storms I've ever seen."

Ballard glanced around the bridge.

"Did we make it through okay?"

The captain looked around at each of the crewmen. They were already getting back to their stations, checking the systems.

"The main systems look like they're undamaged," one officer said. "They're coming back online."

The radar operator who had been blow back from his station slowly crawled back to his post and pulled himself into his seat. He turned immediately reactivated the monitor, turning a few knobs to get the system readjusted.

"It'll take a few minutes to get the radar back up, sir," he said to the captain.

The captain simply gave a nod.

"The sooner, the better."

The glanced around once more, then turned to Ballard and James.

"Gentlemen..."

He turned and walked out onto the starboard bridge wing. The two friends glanced at each other, shrugged, then walked after him.

Outside, the captain stood on the far end of the deck, glancing out over the ocean. Ballard and James joined him, as they walked noting how cold it had suddenly become, their breath coming out in clouds. The captain slowly turned and looked them both straight on.

"Let's not waste time making pointless statements here. I just want to know one thing; did either of you recognize that thing we just encountered?"

Both men remained silent. The captain turned to Ballard.

"What about you, Bob? I know you've been in the Navy. You've probably seen your share of strange things during your service."

Ballard shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint, captain. I have seen many electrical storms and such, but never something with that intensity."

"It looks as though whatever it was, it effected us pretty well."

Both men turned to James.

"What are you saying?" the captain asked.

"Well, I mean look around. It's night time. When we encountered that thing, it was around noon time. There was still plenty of daylight left."

Ballard stared at his friend in surprise. "So what? Are you saying it was like a time warp or something?"

James chuckled. "Hell no. You know I don't believe in that. I'm saying that maybe whatever it was was so intense, it caused us all to black out and we didn't wake back up until now, thus explaining the lost hours."

Ballard and the captain thought it over.

"Makes sense…" the captain said, "but a ship wide blackout like that? I doubt it would have effected everyone in that way."

"Hey, I'm not the most scientific one here," James said, I'm just stating what seems to be logical."

For a minute, no one spoke as they let it sink in. Finally, the captain spoke.

"Okay, for the time being, I suppose we'll have to go with the blackout theory. Now, the next order of business would be to find out just where the hell we are. If what you said is indeed correct, the ship would've traveled some distance once her engines got her going backwards at full astern."

Ballard and James both nodded and followed the captain as he turned and headed back inside.

On the bridge, the captain walked over to the navigation console, where the officer in charge was pouring over the readout from the ships navigational data, a puzzled look on his face.

"How's it looking?" the captain asked.

The officer turned and looked at him.

"Sir, I have no clue what the hell happened, but according to this we haven't traveled even a foot. Where in the same exact location we were in when we went through that vortex or whatever the hell it was."

The captain stood confused.

"are you absolutely certain? Maybe the storm messed up the reviver and is giving incorrect readouts.'

The officer shook his head. "yeah, I thought that to. But when I went back and checked, the system showed that we weren't getting any signal from any GPS satellites. I tried every frequency, and nothing. It's like the network just shut down. What you see here was the last thing the computer printed out before everything went black."

The captain, Ballard, and James stood shocked.

"How does a whole GPS network just fail without warning?"

The officer shook his head.

The captain let the thoughts dwell in his head, not sure what to make of them. After a minute, he turned and walked back to the intercom panel. He made sure it still worked, then switched the setting to the engine room.

"Engine room, this is the bridge. How did you guys fare down there?"

The chief engineers voice came back over the speaker.

"We fine sire. Some a little worse for the ware, but otherwise fine."

"Are the engines still running at full astern?"

"At the moment, no. The generator went down when we encountered…whatever the hell we encountered…and is just now coming back. The propellers will be back at full RPM in about twenty minutes."

The captain glanced around the bridge, then stopped on James and Ballard. Slowly, he turned back to the speaker.

"Chief, shut down the engines."

"Sir?"

"You head me. Shut them down and let her drift. I don't want to leave this location till we're sure of what's going on."

"Aye sir. Engine room out."

The captain switched off the intercom and turned back to the expedition leaders.

"Well gentlemen, I'm actually at a loss. Do any of you have any suggestions?"

Before either man could answer, the radar operator motioned for them.

"Sir, I have the radar back up, and I have something very interesting I think you should see."

The three men slowly walked over, almost afraid of what they would see after the recent event.

On the monitor, the radar showed the research ship in the center, but yet there was another target, a larger one, moving a few miles off to port.

"I can't make her out sir, but I can tell you that judging from this, she's bigger then us."

The captain, James, and Ballard stared at the new blip on the radar. The captain was perhaps the most confused.

"Weren't we reading the area clear before we went through the storm?"

The officer nodded.

"Well then? How did another ship just appear there without us seeing it approach?"

While the argument was going on, Ballard was thinking everything over in his head. "A strange storm, then the day turns to night. There's no GPS signals, and now there's a mystery ship that just showed up on our radar."

He turned to James and the captain.

"Something's off here, and I doubt it involves us blacking out and missing a few hours."

"What are you saying?" James was a little confused at his friends unwillingness to accept his logical theory.

"I'm saying that there's something bigger going on here, and we need to find out what it is."

He pointed toward the radar.

"We need to identify that target, whatever it is."

James and the captain both glanced at the radar image, then at Ballard.

"It might also be wise to try and contact Woodshole and inform them of our situation," James said. The captain nodded.

"I agree. I'll go see if the communications systems are functional yet and tell the operators to send out a message."

"Good," Ballard said. "Just one more thing. May I borrow your binoculars?"

The captain scratched his head. "Why?"

"Because I want to se if I can make visual contact with that ship on the radar."

The captain shrugged and lifted the binoculars from around his neck.

"Okay, but try not to drop them overboard. I got those from my father."

Ballard chuckled.

"Relax, captain. I got 'em."

The captain nodded, then turned and headed to the rear of the bridge, through a passageway to the adjacent communications room. Ballard and James remained for a minute, James walking off to follow the captain. This left Ballard standing there, staring at the blip on the radar.

He wasn't sure what it was, but he felt like something was telling him that he already knew what it was. Like that ship was one he already knew. He slowly turned and walked toward the port bridge wing, wondering what he would see on the horizon.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

A few minutes later,he stood on the very end of the bridge wing, his eyes fixed to the ship on the horizon. For perhaps the 20th time, he told himself that what he was seeing couldn't be real. That his mind was playing tricks on him due to the storm. But yet, the ship looked so real.

The captain and James came back from the communications room. The first thing they noticed was Ballard staring off at the lights on the horizon.

"Hey Bob," James said, trying to get his friends attention. He didn't answer.

"Hello? Anyone home in there?"

The captain stepped up right behind him.

"Earth to doctor Ballard!"

Ballard snapped out of his gaze. He turned around to the two men.

"Sorry. I was caught up in something."

"I'll say…" James mumbled.

"How are we on communications?"

Both men shook their heads.

"No good," the captain said.

"What? Radio down?"

"No. It's not so much that we can't send messages as it is there's nothing to send the messages to."

Ballard raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"It's like Woods hole just dropped off the face of the earth, Bob" James said. "They didn't give a single reply."

Ballard scratched his head. "That's odd. They always have 24 hour contact with their ships at sea. I wonder what could be wrong."

The captain shrugged. "Dammed it I know."

James noticed the lights of the ship on the horizon.

"So Bob, you find out who our friend is out there?"

Ballard was slightly caught of guard. He didn't know how to answer it. He slowly glanced behind him at the ship.

"Oh, I identified her alright. But you guys wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The two men glanced at each other, then back.

"Why not?" the captain asked. "It's probably just a cruise ship or a tanker. Something we see on every expedition. Nothing to get excited about."

Ballard shook his head. "Not this ship."

He removed the binoculars and handed them to the captain. "See for yourself."

Slowly, both the Captain and James walked up to the railing, the captain looking through the binoculars at the ship. After what seemed like hours, but was only a minute or two, he handed them to James, his expression one of shock and astonishment. Soon, James lowered the binoculars, his expression the same. Both men slowly turned to Ballard.

"You can't expect us to believe that," the captain said.

"Why not?" Ballard replied. "Everything about her is exact. What's not to believe?"

"Bob, that ship sank." James tried to talk sense into his friend. "Remember, we were going to dive on it's wreck. That can't possibly be the same ship."

Ballard shook his head. "Boy James, for the logical one here, you ain't doing much good. Think about it. There was never even plans to build any kind of ship with the Titanic's lines, nor was there ever plans to build an exact replica. And I doubt highly that one would go through all the trouble of making one fro their won personal enjoyment."

James tried to come back. "Yeah, but how…"

He was cut off. "No. No way. Gentlemen, I've run this through my head enough. I believe that what you are seeing there is the genuine article. The real RMS Titanic."

James and the captain were shocked. But it didn't last long.

"I don't buy that," the captain said. "The Titanic is on the bottom of the ocean. Now, I know they made that one book called _Raise the Titanic_, but…"

Ballard cut him off. "They didn't raise it. They didn't do anything to it. In fact, if what I'm thinking right now is true, she hasn't even sunk. Not yet, at least."

"What are you thinking anyway?" James asked.

"I'm thinking that that storm we went through was no ordinary storm. I think it was almost like a portal. A portal that sucked us back through time. Like in that one movie…what was it…_The Final Countdown._"

Both men were silent for a moment. Then the captain sighed and shook his head.

"You're talking fantasy here, Ballard," the captain said, shaking his head. "_Final Countdown_ was a good movie, but that's all it was. A movie.I mean,time portals? Come on, that all a bunch of science fiction bull. How could you possibly prove it?"

"The fact that we don't have any GPS signals, and that Woodshole didn't respond to your messages."

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"You don't get it do you? Those things don't exist yet. If I'm right and we're in 1912, then none of those things have been invented, and the institute hasn't been founded. Hell, it's founder hasn't even been born yet!"

The captain and James looked at each other, surprised. What Ballard was saying actually made sense. But these two weren't convinced. Not yet, at least. It would take just a little more, and Ballard knew that.

He glanced down at his watch. He noticed it read 11:20 PM. A thought came into his head. If he was right, it meant good and bad news. The good was that in about a minute, he would get the break he needed. The bad was that in 20 minutes, history would begin playing itself out in a horrific way.

But he had time for that. Now he needed to get into the radio room.

"Come with me. I'll get you believing yet."

He turned and walked back onto the bridge. The captain and James followed, not sure what to expect at this point.

Ballard walked into the communications room adjacent to the bridge. He immediately got to the point.

"Can you adjust the radio to pick low band transmissions like old Morse code?"

The operator was stunned by the intrusion.

"I…I don't know sir. It's never been done."

While this was going on, the captain and James entered.

"What the hell are you up to, Ballard?" the captain asked, a little annoyed.

"proving I'm right."

He turned back to the operator.

"Try and adjust the frequency to the lowest possible setting. It's the only way you'll pick this up."

The operator did as he was told. Ballard turned back to James and the captain.

"If I'm right gentlemen, then you'll get all the proof you'll need about 60 seconds."

"Proof of what?" James asked.

"Proof not only that were are indeed back in 1912, but that the ship you saw was the real Titanic."

The captain and James were quiet. They glanced from each other to the radio set, waiting. Ballard kept an eye on his watch. Once the second hand passed the 12, right on cue, a Morse code message started coming through.

"I've got something…" the operator said. Ballard smiled.

"Put it up so we can all hear it," Ballard said with a smug expression.

As the Morse code came over the speaker, the captain immediately began to recognize it. He stood there, taking it in. then suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise. He glanced at Ballard, whose smile grew larger.

"You know what it says, don't you captain?"

The captain shook his head. "I understand it, but I don't believe it."

"What's it say?" James asked.

The captain turned to him.

"It says something along the lines of 'S.S Californian to S.S Titanic. We are stopped and surrounded by ice. Please reply…'

He stopped as another set of Morse code came on. It had a different tone to it. The captain's expression grew even more shocked then before as it came on.

"And what does this one say?" Ballard asked.

" 'S.S Titanic to S.S Californian. Shut up. I'm working Cape Race and you're jamming my signal. Please keep out. - S.S Titanic.'"

James stood staring at the captain in disbelief. The captain noticed his expression.

"I swear, that's what it said."

Both men turned to Ballard.

"How'd you know?" the captain asked.

Ballard chuckled. "I know my history. Harold bride, the surviving radio operator from the Titanic, testified that they received a message from the Californian, that very same message, 20 minutes before the collision at about 11:19. The operator on the Californian testified that he received that exact reply from the Titanic before shutting down his set. So when I looked at my watch and realized what time it was here, I only had to get your radio operator to get it to the right frequency, and bingo. Instant proof."

The captain and James were stunned. They couldn't believe what just happened. And as if that wasn't enough, what came next iced it.

An officer stepped into the radio room.

"Sir, I've just got the ship's calendar in the computer up, and I think that you need to take a look at this."

The three men turned and followed the officer as he walked to a console on the side of the bridge. He went up and pressed a few buttons and pulled up the date. Slowly, the captain walked forward. When he saw what the computer was reading, he almost passed out.

"Are…Are you sure…That's accurate?"

The officer nodded. "Yes sir. Believe me, I've checked it twice already, even recalibrated it, and it still shows this date."

The captain nodded. James and Ballard slowly waked up beside him. The captain pointed out the numbers to them on the tiny monitor. 4/14/12.

"April 14, 1912."


	4. An attempt to change the past

"So what does this all mean?"

"I guess it means we're back in 1912." James said.

Ballard smiled. James was convinced. But the captainwasn't willing to acept the obvious. not yet.

"This has to be some sort of trick. The crew peobably rigged the ships internal units or something. Time travel is impossible..."

"Face it captain," Ballard said, "We have been thrown back in time. The proof is all around. You can try to come up with a logical explanation all night, but in actuallity, there's none to be found. Just acept the obvious."

The captin shook his head.

"You've been watching to many sci-fi films. Theres no way that..."

"Yes there is. Einstien himself stated that in theory, Time Travel is possible. You'd know that if you paid any atention while you were in collage."

The captain looked hurt by that expression. He couldn't seem to come up with any response.

James finally broke the silence.

"Okay, so we know what happened and where we are. now the bigger question is what to do about it."

Ballard thought it over in his mind. he glanced at his watch. Five minutes had already passed since he last checked. The thought of the Titanic sailing toward the iceberg kept floating up into his head. he thought of how if he had the chance, he would want to help.

Then it hit him. This was his chance. the Titanic was only five miles off. if they could some how contacter her and warn her of the ice befre she saw it, there's a good chance that they could change history and save 1,500 lives!

He smiled at the thought. He turned to the captain and James.

"Tell me, do our floodlights ondeck still work?"

"Why?"

"Oh, I just thought of something, that's all."

The captain scratched his head at the semingly random thought.

"I guess they would still be working. Not sure though."

"If they were working, what would you say the maximum visual range would be?"

"I'd say about six miles or so..."

He stopped.

"What are you getting at?"

Ballard grinned.

"I want to see if we can contact the Titanic via Morse code."

The captain and James were both caught off guard. they glance at eachother, then at Ballard, confusion and suprise in thier expressions.

"What do you hope to accomplish by doing so?" the captain asked.

"To warn her about the iceberg in her path."

If they were caught off guard before, that statement blew them away.

"Bob," James said slowly, "you are aware that you're talking about changing history."

"I know. And I'm also well aware that such a thing might be just a tad bit difficult to pull off, but trust me, I have reasons for wanting this to happen."

James and the captain just stared in astonishment.

"What possible reason would there be for changing history?"

"The fact that we could save one of the worlds greatest ocan liners, and save the lives of 1,500 inocent people."

The captain shook his head.

"You've never seen the movie _The Final Countdown_, have you? If we should take anything from that film, it's that you can't beat history. Ballard, you can't do a single thing to change what already happened. Go ahead, flash that huge light at them. I guarentee they won't ever se it in time."

The captain smiled. He thought a little reverse phsycology would work. He thought that he had won the argument.

10 minutes later,Ballard, James, and the captain were standing on the aft deck, watching the crew prepare the aft floodlights.

"I couldn't keep my mouth shut..."

Ballard, who was standing by one of the lights, turned and walked back to the others men.

"Do you really think we can do this?" James asked.

"What?"

"Signal the Titanic."

Ballard smiled.

"Yes. I think it must be done. Here we have an opportunity not just to save lives, but to prevent the sinking of the most famous liner in history. Or in the present, or what the hell ever."

James shook his head.

"I don't know, Bob. You're taking a big gamble if it works. Changing the past isn't the kind of thing you should take lightly."

"And I agree fully, don't get me wrong. But I can't bear to see that liner go down again right in front of me."

One of the crewmen called down from the light post.

"We're ready, sir."

Ballard looked in the direction of the Titanic.

"I hope you see this." he said, quietly.

He turned back and gave the order.

"Point both lights in the Titanic's direction and put them on full."

"Yes sir."

The Crewman and his men turned the lights around so that both faced the Titanic, then, with a blinding flash; they began to flick them on and off, sending a Morse code message to the Titanic.

Aboard the Titanic, the light immediately distracted First officer William Murdoch, on duty for the rest of the night.

"Quartermaster?" he called into the wheelhouse behind him.

"Yes sir?"

Murdoch stared at the light.

"Do you see those lights just off to port?"

The quartermaster looked off, and quickly saw the two powerful lights.

"Eye, sir. Blinding little bugs, aren't they?"

"Indeed. It looks as though we're being Morsed by them. Can't make out the message though."

"It's almost as if the light isn't there."

"Yes. Rather odd..."

In the crow's nest, lookout Fred Fleet was also quickly distracted. He rang the bridge and quickly got a reply.

"Bridge here. I suppose this is about those lights?"

"Eye, sir, it is. What do you think they are?"

Murdoch answered back, with a slight bit of confusion in his voice.

"I can't make out any ship configuration on them. You're higher up than I am. What can you make out?"

Fleet strained to see off into the distance.

"Nothing, sir. Those lights are to close together to make out a definite shape."

On the bridge, Murdoch thanked fleet for the assistance, then hung up the phone. He turned and walked out onto the starboard bridge wing, trying to ignore the lights. Suddenly, he saw something that froze his blood. The site of an iceberg, bearing down on the ship. There was no time to slow down, it was too close. He had to rely on the Titanic's speed of 22 knots.

"Hard to starboard Quartermaster!"

He turned back and watched as the berg closed in. Without thinking, he ran up to the engine telegraphs and went down the row, ringing them all into the _full astern_ position.

Seconds ticked by.The ship slowly began to swing clear, and Murdoch sighed, thinking he was out of danger.But at the last moment, the Titanic struck hard, and Murdoch felt her shudder as the berg passed along the starboard side with a deep grinding noise.

He stared at the berg as it slid by,it's menacing mass towering over the deck. As it grazed the side, he watched as chuncks of ice broke of and crashed onto the forward well deck.

Another thought popped to his head. Heran over to the control panel in the bridge and activated the watertight door control. It took a few seconds, but one by one, all the lights slowly came on as the doors closed. He waited until all the lights were activated. He slowly turned to the lights off in the distance.

"Damn you. Look what you've done."

While this was going on, Ballard and the otherswatched the Titanic for any sign of a reply.

"Maybe they can't see it." James said.

Ballard turned around, confused.

"How can you miss lights like that?"

"Come on, Bob. I mean, how solid is a ship that traveled through time? Maybe to us this ship looks solid, but to them the lights could simply look like a faded glow, like the Northern lights or something."

Ballard stared at him for a minute, then looked back at the Titanic. "I guess that makes sense, but…"

He was cut off by a message from the bridge. The captain walked over to the intercom.

"Captain here."

The communications officer's voice sounded back.

"Captain, I'm picking up some faint sounds from the Titanic."

"Pipe it through. Maybe we can make something of it."

"Will do."

The captain turned the intercom volume on full just as the faint sound rumbled through the speakers.

"What the hell is it?" James asked.

"Pretty faint, but then we are five miles away," The captain said. "Maybe it's her engines slowing down."

Ballard listened closely.

"No. I know what it is."

"What?" Ballard took in a deep breath.

"That's the sound of her plates hitting the iceberg."

The captain and James listened, as well as the crewmembers present. After a moment of hearing it, they could tell that that was exactly what it was.


	5. What to do next?

_NOTE: To all who had been reading this, I would first like to say thank you for maintaining interest. Second, I apologize for not updating in over a year. I would just like to say that I did intend on finishing the story, but I hit a writer's block during the process and then gradually lost interest. Now, I'm back, with fresh ideas, and better writing skills, and a renewed interest in Fan Fiction writing. Enjoy the rest of the story to come, and again, thank you for reading._

* * *

They had tried to prevent history, and yet it still happened. 

The men continued to listen until the grinding noise stopped. Then there was just silence over the intercom. The captain reached up and shut it off.

Ballard just remained in his place, not sure of what to do. The Titanic had hit the iceberg. It didn't seem like there was much that could be done.

"Well," the captain chimed in, "you can't expect us to sit here now. So we couldn't save the Titanic. Let history run its course I say. We need to figure out a way to get to our own time, before we become part of this history to."

Ballard looked up at the captain.

"And how do you propose we do that?" We got caught in a storm, Captain. Look around. With weather as clear as this, that storm probably isn't going to be back for a while."

James stepped up, his look serious.

"Well then, Bob, what exactly are we supposed to do? We're in a time period where we don't belong. I know that you thought that we could make a difference,bith you and I know thatyou can't beat history."

Ballard looked away in the direction of the Titanic. Her lights burned, she was still on an even keel. She seemed so beautiful. And now Ballard was forced to watch the ship he loved sink again, right before his eyes.

The captain watched the scene for a long moment, sympathy in his eyes. But he soon shook off the spell and turned away, back to the intercom system.

He held the button down, and spoke into the speaker.

"Bridge, this is the captain. Prepare to get underway."

The bridge officer responded back.

"Where to, sir?"

The captain shrugged.

"Anywhere. There's nothing more we can do here."

Ballard heard this, and walked away slowly. He seemed ready to admit defeat.

On board the Titanic, the activity had begun. Steam roared from the three forward funnels, and passengers were slowly starting to come out on deck, wearing thier evening closths and night gowns under thier thick life jackets. The ship already seemed to have a noticeable list.

Murdoch stood on the port bridge wing, along with Captain smith. Both men stared at the bright lights on the horizon.

"Has she responded to any of our distress signals?" The captain asked.

Murdoch shook his head.

"No sir. The only thing we got from her was a blinding flash of light. I don't know what it was, but I didn't seem to be a message of any kind."

The captain looked off at the ship and raised an eyebrow.

"Could it have been a Morse message?"

Before Murdoch could answer, the chairman of the company, J. Bruce Ismay walked with a purpose up to them.

"Excuse me Captain", he said, "but you should get the evacuation moving along. Your crew are handling things to slowly! We need to get people off the ship as soon as possible!"

The captain looked behind him down the deck. He noticed the growing number of passengers, and he also noticed the lifeboats being swung out. He turned back to Ismay.

"Mr. Ismay, though you are the chairman, I will not take orders from you. The Titanic is still afloat for now, and as long as she is, I give orders. You just keep to yourself and leave my crew to thier work."

Ismay's expression was one of shock. The captain of all people had shot him down. Without saying anything, he turned and walked off. The captain turned back to Murdoch.

"Mr. Murdoch, keep making any attempt to reach that ship. We must make her know of the situation."

Murdoch nodded.

"Yes sir."

The captain walked into the bridge and over to the starboard side of the ship.

On the research ship, Ballard, James, and the captain stood on the bridge as the engines roared to life. The captain gave the helmsman an order.

"Lay in a course that'll take us ten miles north of this position."

The helmsman responded with a nod. All the while, Ballard looked out the bridge window at the Titanic. He was ready to give up. He had tried, but yet history still repeated itself.

He let his thoughts flow back to the day he had found the wreck in 1985. He remebered the excitementin the control room when one of this ship's huge boilers came into view. Then when the camers soared over the forward deck. The proudest moment of his career.

Then came another memory, when he was given the go ahead from Woods Hole to take Alvin down to explore the wreck up close. His dream of being the first man to walk the Titanic's decks sincer her sinking became more of a reality then ever.

As he dwelled on that last thought, he suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing something.

He rushed over to the helmsman and gave an order of his own.

"We're not leaving the area. Lay in a new course toward the Titanic's position."

The captain and James stood wide-eyed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Ballard?"

Ballard looked up, his expression serious.

"I'm not leaving without giving it one last attempt. And this time, we'll make sure it'll work."

The captain shook his head. James tried to talk sense into his friend.

"Face it, Bob. It's over. The ship hit the iceberg. You can't help that. It has to happen."

Ballard smirked.

"Yeah, _that_ had to happen, but the ship sinking can still be stopped. At least if we're lucky."

James looked just as confused as the captain now.

Ballard turned to one of the crewmen at the console.

"How long will it take to get the Alvin prepped for dive?"

The captain looked up, surprised at what he just heard.

"The Alvin? What the hell do you need the Alvin for?"

Ballard didn't look up, just simply gave a short answer. "You'll see"


	6. The New Plan

About 15 minutes later, the research vessel was plowing through the calm Atlantic towards the stricken Titanic at nearly 30 knots.

Ballard stood on the bridge, watching the Titanic's blip on radar. The captain and James stood near the door, looking at the window at the ships lights.

James shook his head.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that Bob will stop at nothing to save that ship."

The captain agreed.

Ballard walked over to the intercom system.

"Sub bay, this is Ballard. How much longer before the Alvin can be in the water?"

On the stern deck, the Alvin was winched out and being secured to the huge A-frame above the fantail. An engineer was at the intercom, responding to Ballard.

"I'd say she'll be ready in about 20 minutes sir. Just getting her into the crane now."

"Roger. Let me know when she's ready."

Back on the bridge, Ballard stepped away from the intercom and turned to the Captain, who just stared in amusement.

"What, dare I ask, is your crazy plan this time, Ballard?"

Ballard took a deep breath.

"Well, I'm hoping that with luck, we'll be able to use a combination of Alvin and the dive team to stabilize the Titanic."

James looked up.

"What the hell? How do you figure that'll happen?"

"Simple", Ballard replied. "The Alvin will drop down in the area of the iceberg damage, and she'll light it up with the special light booms fitted for her. Then, we'll lower the zodiacs over the side with the dive team. They'll use underwater welding equipment to patch up the damage enough for the pumps aboard the Titanic to gradually gain an advantage. We'll further that by rigging our pumps to her bilge doors, since ours are more powerful, and help them out. Hopefully it'll keep the ship on the surface long enough for everyone to be evacuated."

The captain and James stared at Ballard for a long moment.

"And you really thing that'll work?"

"Yes. yes I do.

The captain shrugged.

"Well then, I give up. If you think that'll work…"

James chuckled. "Yeah. Whatever _floats your boat,_ Bob."

The captain laughed at the pun.

Ballardshook his headandand headed for the bridge door.

"Hey, where are you going?" James asked.

"To the aft deck. I'm going to oversee everything and make sure this plan works. If you want to join me, then go ahead."

With that, he walked out. James and the captain looked at each other, surprise on their faces. James turned and headed off after his friend.

The Titanic was starting to develop a very noticeable forward list; her bow was now riding low in the water, not enough to be considered dangerous, but still worse than it was before. The lights below the surface cast an eerie glow around her. On the deck, Officer Boxhall now joined Officer Murdoch, both men staring out at the lights off to port.

"So you say that she's just been sitting there all this time?"

Boxhall asked, confused.

"Yes. She hasn't answered a single radio message, and we've done all but shoot a cannon at her to get her attention."

Boxhall shook his head. "If I had a cannon, I'd gladly put a shell in her."

Murdoch looked back at the deck. A few of the lifeboats were already being lowered away. He turned back to Boxhall.

"Those passengers won't last in this freezing weather. We have to get her attention some how. Go and fetch the quartermaster and tell him to bring up the distress rockets. Fire one every five minutes."

Boxhall nodded and walked off.

Murdoch looked back at the ship. Oddly, and to his surprise, the lights were growing dimmer rather than brighter…as if the ship was slowly leaving.


	7. A Late Realization

On the stern deck of the research ship, Ballard and James stood watching the operation. The Titanic's lights were gradually getting closer on the horizon, at least from their perspective. The zodiac boats were hoisted over the side, Divers ready, while the Alvin was secured to the crane, waiting for the order to be swung out to the water.

James glanced around the deck, then up at Ballard.

"So you really think you're gonna be able to change history?"

Ballard didn't look up from the operation.

"If we're lucky, James. If we're lucky."

James walked toward the railing and stared for a long moment at the Titanic. He suddenly saw a white flare erupt in the sky above her.

"Hey Bob, I think you should see this."

Ballard turned and walked to the railing, and watched as the rocket burst dissipated.

"She's firing rockets. Just like she should."

James stared hard at the ship.

"Maybe she did see our Morse message earlier and is trying to get our attention this time."

Ballard stood confused.

"I don't know about that. According to history, the ship fired rockets so that she could try and signal a mystery ship that was supposedly between..."

He stopped in mid sentence. His eyes widened in realization.

"Holy shit!"

"What?" James asked, now the confused one.

"Don't you get it?" Ballard asked, excited.

"The mystery ship between the Titanic and the other ship, Californian. It was us! We were that mystery ship!"

James stood confused, looking up at his friend. It took a moment before it downed on him as well.

"My God!"

Ballard quickly rushed over to the intercom and contacted the bridge.

"Captain, this is Ballard."

"What is it?"

"Captain, tell your radar operator to increase the range to include a ten mile radius instead of a four mile radius."

On the bridge, the Captain stood at the intercom, wondering why Ballard was giving him orders on his own ship.

"Why? I thought the only thing you wanted to keep an eye on was the Titanic."

"Never mind that Just get it done."

The captain shrugged and then turned to the radar operator.

"You heard him. Increase to a ten mile radius."

The operator did as he was told. Almost immediately, another blip about 6 miles off to starboard appeared.

The captain called back on the intercom.

"We've got a target about 6 miles of to starboard now. But I'd say she's a good 200 feet shorter than the Titanic, though." One of the officers walked out onto the starboard bridge wing with the binoculars to get visual contact.

"Got her." He said. "Looks like a small freighter. Not to fancy, not to shapley either."

The captain nodded.

"You get that, Ballard?"

On the stern deck, Ballard replied.

"Yeah, I heard him. Thanks." He released the intercom button and walked over to the starboard railing. James was already there, eyeing the lights on the horizon that were the Californian.

"Looks like we're deeper in this little event than we thought." James said.

Ballard shook his head, in slight disbelief.

"Then, could it be that we've already made a difference in this timeline?"

Ballard turned around to face the Titanic, just as another rocket burst into the sky.


	8. Return of the Storm

_Okay. I'm finally updating. _

_First, I am so sorry for forgeting about this once again. My life has been pretty hectic over this summer. I've had so much going on, and I was writting other fics, and this just sort of dropped from my mind. But I hate to leave things unfinished, s__o, to assure all that it will get done, I am making a vow to finish this story, no matter what. _

_And now, to show I mean it, here's perhaps the best chapter I've yet written. Enjoy._

* * *

On the bridge, the captain stood on the starboard wing, staring at the titanic through his binoculars. The ship was indeed getting lower in the water, and he was doubting if they were going to make it in time. For perhaps the first time in the voyage, he was also starting to express a concern for the people aboard the foundering liner. 

Of course, with all his concentration focused on that one spot on the horizon, he had yet to notice the sudden shift in wind, and that the once star filled sky was quickly becoming nothing but a dark blue void. The ocean waves still pounded against the hull, but the wake of the vessel was noticeably thinner, even though she was making full steam.

On the stern deck, Ballard and James were still discussing, the both of them oblivious to the sudden changes as well.

"Well," Ballard said, "If we weren't brought back to change history, what was the point of our being here?"

"You don't get it do you?" James shook his head at his friend. "You just said that we, this ship, were here when the disaster happened the first time. We did change history to an extent."

Ballard shook his head. "I'm not following."

"If we were never thrown back here, then the Californian would probably never have been blamed for not coming to the Titanic's aide in the future. Captain lord would've gone on to lead a successful career at sea."

"So we saved some old captains career. Big historical difference there."

James sighed. "Look. The best I can come up with is that if we didn't change the past, we changed the future. Everything in life happens for a reason, Bob. We might be playing a bigger part in this then you or I can understand right now."

Ballard looked up at the superstructure of the research ship. He glanced around at all the crewmembers on deck. This was something that they to were going to remember the rest of their lives. Most of them were people who probably shared in the fascination of the Titanic story as well. When they found out that all their efforts till now to save the lives of 1,500 people were in vain, he knew they were probably going to be crushed.

Something snapped Ballard out of his trance. The wind had picked up quite a bit, oddly enough.

"Boy, it got pretty breezy out here,"

James looked around and realized it to.

"Yeah. I though there was no wind during the time the ship was sinking."

As he looked around, the sky caught his attention. "What the…"

Ballard wondered what his friend was staring at with such astonishment. He looked at the sky and noticed the sudden lack of stars. As he stared, his eyes widened in astonishment as the rest continued to fade away before his eyes.

The radar operator on the bridge hadn't really left his spot for most of the trip. He had been glued to the set, keeping an eye on the Titanic and Californians signatures. But when a newer, much larger blip appeared directly ahead of his vessel, his mind suddenly brought him to a sharp sense of alert.

"Captain," he yelled toward the open door to the external wing, "Sir, there's something here that I think you need to see."

In no less then thirty seconds, the captain had rushed inside and was sanding beside his officer. He stared blankly at the radar image, his mind drawing blanks at to what it was.

"Well, what the hell is it?"

The officer took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Sir, I think that whatever that is, it's what brought us here in the first place"

"So what are you telling me?"

"I'm saying that whatever brought us here may happen again."

The captain stood there, not sure how to respond. He just let it soak in. The same storm that had brought them here was coming back to bring them to, Lord knew what timeline or dimension.

He was finally snapped out of his trance by another officer, standing in front of the large windows, looking out toward the horizon with another pair of binoculars.

"Captain, there's an weird object forming in the sky a few yard off out starboard bow."

The captain walked up beside his other officer, and slowly raised his binoculars to the windows, almost afraid of what he would see.

"I thought it might have been the Northern Lights or something like that, but I don't think it can form so far out."

As the captain looked, whatever he was seeing was expanding rapidly, and it was coming closer to the ship at a frightening pace.

"Good God…" the captains eyes widened in shock as he quickly bolted to a control panel and activated the general alarm.

Everyone working on the aft deck was caught of guard by the sudden alarm bell shrieking. None more so then James and Ballard. Without giving it a second though, they rushed over to the intercom.

"Captain," Ballard yelled over the alarm, "What the hell is going on up there?"

"Get everything organized back there and find a shady spot. And I mean quick. Tell the crew to haul ass!"

"But what is going on?"

Before the captain could reply, a bolt of lighting shot from the phenomena above the ship and crashed into the water no more then a foot from the side of the sip, the shock sending electrical current surging through the waves and up the side. Ballard and James needed no further urging. They now knew exactly what was happening."

Ballard rushed up a ladder to the deck above the sub hanger deck, where everyone could see him.

"Attention," he yelled, hoping the now confused crew would hear him. "This is an extreme emergency. Get the sub secured in the hanger and secure all dive equipment and deck equipment."

The crew members that could hear turned to him, confusion in there eyes. James decided that his friend would need a little more then that to get them moving.

"You heard the men, move your asses! Let's get this ship locked down. Lets go!"

The crew snapped out of their trance. They all ran about, hurrying to accomplish their tasks.

As they hurriedly worked the A-frame to bring Alvin back on it's guide tracks on deck, James ran up and lent a hand to a few men trying to secure the zodiac boats.

They got through one, and the men moved to the other, an enigneer operating the cane holding the boat over the side. Just when it looked like everything was going well, the cable jammed on the cane.

The engineer was at a loss as he frantically worked the controls. The rest of the men looked around to try and find the problem, trying to get it working in time.

James saw what it was. He leaned far over the railing to get a loose line hanging from the crane, whose lose end was jamming the mechanism. As he reached, leaning dangerously far over, another shaft of lightening came out of no where and struck the deck behind him.

The electrical shock practically blew him off his feet. He tried to reach out for something to hold on to, but his hands closed on air and he toppled over the side, his head nailing the metal engine casing on the boat.

Ballard stood in horror as his friend was blown over the side.

"James!"

He rushed down to the lower deck and ran right up to the railing. There was no sign of his friend. Ballard looked around frantically. He saw a spare life ring attached to the rail. Without giving it any thought at all, he went and ripped it off and chucked it over the edge, praying that his friend was still alive.

A blinding flash of light forced him back from the railing though. He looked skyward, using his hand as a shield. The bright phenomena was right over the ship. It looked like a swirling vortex, spinning just around that ship, ready to swallow it into oblivion.

It was the last thing Ballard would see that night. As he stared, he suddenly felt like his body was being ripped apart. The ship faded away around him. Things slowly got blacker. His vision failed and he saw nothing more but blackness.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The research ship Atlantis II slowly faded away like a ghost, her imprint remaining on the North Atlantic for a mere second before fading away as well. There was no sign of her in 1912 after that.

The Titanic continued to sink, as history intended. The people in the lifeboats watching her huge mass slowly dip beneath the surface all this time; it was like a cruel joke. She disappeared that night, taking the lives of 1, 500 men, women, and children to a dark grave.

As the night grew to morning, the steamer Carpathia would arrive and pick up 705 survivors. All that remained from 2,200 souls that were aboard the greatest ship ever, the 'unsinkable' Titanic.

* * *

_Well, there it is. I've gotten better at formating, wouldn't you say?And no, it's not over yet. There will be more. I promise. Stay tuned._


	9. Back to the Future

_Hey everyone. It's been a while, but I finally have a new chapter up. I hope you all enjoy it, as the story is beginning to wind down._

_And...I don't really have much else to say._

_But yeah, enjoy it, and don't forget to leave a review. _

_Thanks._

* * *

Ballard slowly regained his senses. He slowly pulled himself to his feet with the help of the deck railing. The other crewmembers were slowly helping each other to their feet, looking around at their surroundings, still unsure of what had just happened. 

What was certain was that it was no longer night time. They were still on the ocean, but it was broad daylight. And As Ballard looked out over the horizon, he could see no trace of either the Titanic or the Californian. And as he looked harder, there was no sign of his friend James floating around on the surface.

He felt his legs buckle and he slowly sat down on the deck, leaning against the rail. Could his friend be lost in 1912? Or in some other time or dimension?

On the bridge, the captain and the rest of his officers slowly got to their feet and went through the process of checking the various instruments. The radar and other instruments were undamaged; all coming back on line normally.

He glanced out the bridge windows. There was no sign of the storm, the Californian, or the RMS Titanic. He was just as thrown off as Ballard was. Had the storm thrown them to another time or dimension? He was even more puzzled by the fact that it was also now broad day light as oppose to the middle of the night.

"This trip is getting stranger and stranger," he said to himself.

He glanced around at his crew.

"Everyone alright?"

He was met with several groans and silent nods from his officers.

"I'll take that as a yes, then."

He turned to the radar operator, who was once again struggling back into his seat.

"Run a complete sweep of the area, maximum range. Report any contacts."

"Yes…sir," the officer replied, still slightly disoriented as to what was going on.

The captain nodded and went out onto the port bridge. He didn't have his binoculars, but he scanned the horizon closely with his eyes. There was no visual sign anything. Not of their time, not of 1912.

"Sir," the radar operator yelled from inside, "I have no contacts within a thirty mile radius sir. We're clear."

The captain heard it. He just shook it from his mind. At this point, he was just wondering where the hell they were now.

His thoughts were son interrupted as Ballard suddenly arrived on the bride wing from the deck below.

"Captain, I got bad news…"

The captain slowly turned around, his face straight and serious.

"As do I. And that is…I have no idea where the hell we are."

"Captain, there are a little more important maters at hand here…"

"What could be more important then knowing where the storm took us?"

"James fell overboard as we went through."

The captain went silent. He wasn't expecting that at all. For a long instance, there was silence.

"I'm…I'm sorry to hear that…"

Ballard couldn't say anything. He could only nod.

"There was no sign of him when we came through?"

"None."

There was more silence.

"I don't know what to say…"

Before the captain was able to finish the sentence, they were interrupted by the radio operator.

"Captain, I…I'm picking up a transmission, coming in nice and strong!"

The captain and Ballard looked at each other, surprised. Without another word, they rushed to the radio room.

Inside, the message being received was being pumped loud and clear through the speakers.

"_Repeat, RSV Atlantics II, do you copy, this is Woods Hole. What the hell's going on?_"

"The message was being transmitted before we came back through sir." the radio operator said. "They just blared onto the speakers the minute the system came back on."

The captain stood in shock. He turned to Ballard.

You don't think it's really…"

Ballard glanced at the radio. "Only one way to find out for sure."

He picked up the reviver and pressed the button. When he spoke, he made sure he made each word clear.

"Woods Hole, this is Ballard. We read you loud and clear."

Over the speaker they could hear several yells of celebration in the background.

"_Thank God," the Woods Hole operator came back. "We lost communications with you for nearly twenty four hours. What the hell went on out there_?"

Ballard glanced at the captain, who just gave him a shrug.

"Don't look at me. They probably wouldn't believe it anyway."

Ballard nodded. He took a minute to think about what he was going to say before continuing.

"Woods Hole, we just encountered a storm that knocked out the communications equipment. Just took us a while to get the system back. Over."

"_That's odd. All the weather maps here predicted smooth sailing for most of the voyage_."

"Well, out here it's a lot more unpredictable."

"tell me about it," The captain said under his breath.

"_Understood, Atlantis. How's the crew_?"

Ballard froze. The crew was fine, but his best friend was lost somewhere in time. The friend he had know for most of his life. He wasn't sure how to respond. The though alone was killing him.

Seeing Ballard's situation, the captain took over. He grabbed the reviver and spoke loud and clear.

"Woods Hole, this is the captain. The crew and ship are in fine order. Perfectly capable of continuing with the mission. Over."

There was a long silence over the radio before Woods Hole came back.

"_Roger that, Atlantis. Continue as best you can. Keep us updated on the status of the dives, and let us know how Titanic's looking now adays. Over and out_."

Ballard remained in his spot, lost in though. He had felt like he had lost a brother, and he basically had. Not only that, but he also had to endure the fact that was pushing back into his head; the fact that he couldn't save the ship he loved so much from taking all those people to a watery grave.

The captain put down the receiver and walked up next to him.

"Come on Bob, James would probably want you to keep going anyway. Don't shut down now."

Ballard slowly turned and looked up at him.

"I mean, your dream is to see the Titanic up close right? Well, thinking about James now won't get that dream to reality. Let's push on…"

Ballard pushed him away and slowly headed for the door.

"You're right," he said slowly, "you're right."

He glanced behind him. "let's get to the wreck and get this done…For both James, and the Titanic."

Then he walked out the door, leaving the captain and the radio operator standing there, staring.


	10. A visit from the boss

_We're one step closer to warping this up. I really want to get this one over with soon._

_This chapter will explain a few things from the beginning, and to those that like it, it'll make you **want** to know what else will happen :)_

_Enjoy, and don't forget to leave your thoughts in a review._

_YW3_

* * *

The weeks went on without any more complications and Ballard and company managed several successful dives down to the mighty Titanic.

Though sometimes he hid it well, while he was exploring the wreck, his mind was overwhelmed by the fact that he could've prevented the disaster from ever happening. That he could have saved over 1,500 people from a cold, dark death.

But yet there was also some happiness, thoughts that he was the only man from his time to see the actual ship sailing the seas in her prime before her last hours of life. Really, all the dives were full of mixed emotions.

On the final dive, he placed a plaque on the wrecked stern, to show his respect for all the passengers, as well as his friend, James.

After that, during the trip back to Woods hole, The captain had ordered that no crew member ever bring up what had happened with the storm.

During this time, Ballard was rarely seen around the ship like he usually was. Even the captain was surprised, but it didn't really bother him. At least he could finally run the ship his way without any interruption.

But what none of the crew could understand was what the doctor was going through. Having lost a friend he's known since forever, and even more seeing the ship he loved sink before him, he was basically in a state of deep depression that was gradually getting worse.

It was only when the Atlantis II was tied up at the Woods Hole dock that things began to slowly climb back uphill.

That day, as everyone disembarked, they were all met by a wave of reporters waiting on the dock. Ballard was actually up on the bridge watching the ordeal, the captain standing beside him.

"You're not going down there?" The captain asked.

Ballard glanced down at the sea of reporters.

"No. I was never one to put up with reporters anyway."

"Oh come on. You're the guy that just did a series of groundbreaking dives to the worlds most famous ocean liner. You're even the guy who found said liner. I think that at least deserves a little bit of media coverage."

Ballard shook his head.

"I think I'll just wait onboard till things quiet down."

The captain could sense what was going on. He shook his head.

"Look Bob, I know things have been hell for you lately, more so than the rest of us, but you just have to put it away. Letting shit like that bother you won't bring James back or raise the Titanic to the surface. You need to try to move on."

Ballard slowly glanced up at him, his eyes narrowing.

"What the hell do you know about that? Like you ever…"

"I was the same way as you when my mother died."

The doctor stopped. His expression loosened up.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry. It was a while ago. The point is, I was just as depressed as you. To me, she was worth just as much as The Titanic and James. But I learned to get over it and move on, because if I kept concentrating on it, it would've kept dragging me down. Simple as that. Just get over."

Ballard stared at the captain for several minutes before glancing back down at the reporters again.

"Guess you made some sense there. Guess I'll go to my cabin and get my stuff together."

He turned and walked out of the bridge and down the bridge wing stairs. The captain remained at the window, watching as the crew members were stopped for interviews.

During the commotion, a black limo pulled up to an empty part of the dock. Two body guards got out of the front seat and walked to the rear, where they opened the door to allow an old man out.

The man was old, but the captain was surprised to see that he needed no wheel chair. Instead, he pulled out a thick cane and began walking at a pretty steady pace, being escorted through the crowd by his body guards, who were keeping off the reporters who apparently knew who it was and were trying to get a word. It was then that the captain knew whom he was seeing.

"Holy Shit…Mr. Donovan…"

The captain turned and raced down the stairs to the lower decks.

In his cabin, Ballard was finishing up packing his bags. He glanced out the porthole into the crowd, and shuddered at the fact that he was going to be attacked by them the most.

He shook off the thought and made his way to the door. Just as he swung it open, he was met by the captain standing in the doorway, his hand raised, ready to knock.

"Damn…Sorry sir," Ballard said.

"Forget it. Mr. Donovan just pulled up to the docks and is coming aboard."

Ballard's eyes widened in surprise.

"He's here, on the ship?"

"You're dam right he is. Come on, he's probably in the ship's lounge."

The two turned to leave, but just as they did, a voice called out behind them.

"Gentlemen…"

Both the captain and Ballard turned to see Jack Donovan standing in the corridor, two big guys on either side.

"The captain of the ship and Doctor Ballard, I believe."

They both nodded.

"Very good. I want to speak to both of you about you're recent expedition."

"Very well sir…" the captain said, "The ship's lounge is right this…"

"In private, captain."

The captain looked a little surprised. He shrugged.

"Very well sir. Where would you like to talk?"

Mr. Donovan looked at the open door to Ballard's cabin.

"In there. That'll do nicely."

Ballard looked to his cabin. It was tiny compared to the lounge. Three was going to be a tight crowd.

"Are you sure sir?" he asked.

Mr. Donovan nodded.

"Very well."

Ballard and the captain turned and walked back inside. Mr. Donovan motioned to his bodyguards to wait outside and followed.

Once everyone was in the room, Ballard shut the door behind them. The captain stood in a corner leaning against a bookshelf. Ballard sat on his bed, and Mr. Donovan simply moved about, looking over the carious pictures and charts hung all over the walls and tossed all over Ballard's desk.

He reached a hand up to the desk and flipped through the papers, until he came up on one of Ballard's black and white pictures of the Titanic in Southampton.

"So, I assume your survey of the Titanic was successful?" he asked without looking up.

"Well…for the most part." Ballard answered.

"There were no complications?"

Ballard knew what he wanted to say, but he lied.

"Not worth reporting, Mr. Donovan, no."

The old man glanced at the doctor.

"No storms? Odd occurrences? Nothing like that?"

Ballard and the captain glanced at each other, both a bit confused as to why he would ask that question. It was as though Mr. Donovan were hinting that he knew something.

"Well," the captain said, "We did have one little occurrence, but…"

"But rather than it being a little storm, it gave you all quite a shock when it threw the ship, yourself, Dr. Ballard, and everyone else aboard back in time to April 14 1912."

Now there was a long silence. Ballard and the captain looked at each other in confusion, than back to Mr. Donovan, who was standing there with a grin on his face.

"How the hell do you know that?" Ballard asked

"There a lot of crew members here, captain. One of the officers spoke to me as I was coming aboard."

Anger welled up in the captain's eyes. One of his crew had actually disobeyed his orders.

"Mr. Donovan, I don't know who told you that, (_And wait till I get my hands on who did),_ But as far fetched as that sounds, and as much as I hate to admit it, that is actually true."

"And you are seriously expecting me to take your word for it?"

"Yes sir," Ballard cut in. "We went back in time and had front row seats to the sinking of the Titanic. As far out as that sounds, that's what happened."

"Mr. Donovan stared at the two men. He looked as if he was mentally measuring them for a straight jacket."

"Very well. During said encounter, I was informed that you lost a man?"

Ballard nodded. "Yes sir. James Edwards was lost overboard coming back to our time."

"Mr. Edawrds was a good friend of yours, correct?"

"Since my Navy days, yes sir." Ballard's eye's suddenly narrowed. "How'd you know about that?"

Mr. Donovan laughed. "I'm one of the top men of this institute. I know things."

Ballard nodded. "makes sense."

For a minute, there was silence.

"But then," Mr. Donovan began, "There is another reason I know about it."

Ballard and the captain both turned, confused expressions on their faces.

"What do you mean?"

Mr. Donovan took a deep breath. "you gentlemen may want to sit down. This will come as a shock. To both of you I'm sure."

The two men exchanged confused glances, then turned back to their superior.

"Why don't you just inform us, while we're here standing?" the captain said.

"Okay, but I gave you fair warning."

Mr. Donovan sighed deeply. "Gentlemen, the man you lost overboard was also a dear friend of mine. In fact, we were very close. Closer than you could ever imagine."

"What are you saying?" Ballard asked, still confused.

"James Edwards and myself; we're…we're one in the same."


End file.
